MONTREAL - The wine, the hockey tickets, the Caribbean vacations, the ham.

They were all part of the “business culture” at the city of Montreal, which merely evolved over the years to incorporate brown envelopes full of cash for municipal engineers in return for “five-star service” for their favourite contractors.

That’s how retired city of Montreal engineer Luc Leclerc described the alleged collusion and corruption at the city, which over a decade saw a dozen contractors boost their earnings by the millions, he said, while he himself pocketed $500,000.

On his second day on the stand Thursday, Leclerc, who gave the commission $90,000 in cash left over from his ill-gotten gains, continued his quasi mea culpa, admitting to taking kickbacks of one sort or another almost as soon as he joined the city staff.

Already in 1990, the year Leclerc arrived at the city of Montreal, the gifts from contractors were flowing, he said. At dinners and golf tournaments, “contractors paid for everyone,” Leclerc told the commission. Their largesse reached secretaries, clerks and, of course, the engineers who prepared estimates for public contracts and supervised work sites, he said.

Unlike at the former Communauté urbaine de Montréal, where accepting any gifts was strictly prohibited, at the city of Montreal it was part of the “culture,” Leclerc said — and he wanted to fit in with his new colleagues.

“When in Rome, do as the Romans,” he told the commission.

So at Christmas in 1990, when a contractor allegedly showed up with a truck full of gifts, he said he put his jacket on like everyone else and lined up outside.

And when it came time for his all-expenses-paid trip to the Dominican Republic to play golf with Paolo Catania in 1995, it was par for the course. (It was on Leclerc’s second trip to the Dominican Republic in 1997 that reputed mob boss Vito Rizzuto is alleged to have joined Leclerc and ex-city of Montreal engineer Gilles Surprenant at the airport. Rumours had it that the Mafia got a 2.5 per cent cut from every contract, he said, adding that these things were talked about openly at golf tournaments.)

At this point in his testimony, Leclerc compared his situation to that of former Liberal cabinet minister Nathalie Normandeau. Asked to explain why she accepted concert tickets from contractor Lino Zambito, Normandeau quipped, “It was Céline Dion, after all!”

About the trip to the Dominican Republic, Leclerc said, “It was Casa de Campo, after all!”

Leclerc then began detailing how much money he got from which contractors, and how:

On top of helping them justify “false extras” — fictitious or exaggerated costs for working hours and/or materials used on work sites not included in the original bid ¬— Leclerc said he gave them “five-star service.”

He said he helped contractors improve their productivity by negotiating with boroughs for better work space or working hours (when it meant closing a lane to traffic, for example). In this way, he saved them time — and money.

For example, if the contractor’s budget called for 10 days of work, but thanks to Leclerc’s intervention the work only took eight days, he said the contractor would pocket the difference. If the amount of sewer pipe needed could be lengthened or a boulder underground imagined, it was, he said. “Every shovelful presented an opportunity,” Leclerc quipped.

And the contractors would “show their appreciation” with envelopes of $500 to $25,000 cash, he added.

The alleged top contributors to Leclerc’s bank account, or more likely his stash under the mattress, included now household names at the commission: Catania, Garnier, ATA and Zambito’s Infrabec.

As for Zambito’s arrival on the Montreal scene, where a cartel of contractors had already divvied up the pie of contracts, Leclerc said he was happy to have a new player to work with.

“It meant more Christmas gifts,” Leclerc said unabashedly. And whether there were 14 or 15 contractors in the game made no difference to him. '

On Wednesday, Leclerc had explained to the commission what a sense of power his central role gave him.

Thursday, he also pointed to other causes to explain his behaviour.

“We were like putty in the hands of contractors who wanted to corrupt us,” Leclerc said. “We were always with the same contractors. There were very few of us, practically no resources, no one behind us to give us a hand.”

And, Leclerc said, although he never spoke openly about the kickbacks or extras with his bosses, there was a “tacit understanding” with them. He said Gilles Vézina, his immediate superior for 19 years, also accepted the wine and the tickets, and appeared at the annual Catania barbecue.

“Over the years, I did things that weren’t right, but I did them automatically because I knew if I spoke to my boss (he would sign off on it).”